Rubber thread feeding machine



1957' J. "r. WESCOTT 2ND 2,801,735

RUBBER THREAD FEEDING MACHINE Filed Dec. 28, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS JOHN T. WESCOT T, 2ND

BY ATTORNEYS Aug. 6, 1957 J. T. WESCOTT 2ND 2,801,735

RUBBER THREAD FEEDING MACHINE Filed Dec. 28, 1953 4'Sheets-Shdet 2 INVENTORS ESCOTT, 2ND

ATTORN EY-S JOHN 11w 6, 1957 J. T. wEscoTT 2ND RUBBER THREAD FEEDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 28, 1953 INVENTORfi JOHN T. WESCOTT, 2ND

ATTOR N EYS 1957 J. T. WESCOTT 2ND 2,801,735

RUBBER THREAD FEEDING MACHINE Filed Dec. 28, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS' JOHN T. WESCOTT, 2ND

ATTORNEYS States 2,801,735 V RUBBER THREAD FEEDING MACHINE John T; Wescott 2nd; Warren, R. I. Application December 28, 1953, Serial No. 400,640 Claims ((31. 203-1 This invention relates to the handling of elastic filamentary bodies and in particui'arto the feeding of cut,

the respective strands of thread in the spooling and in the unwinding from such spools. Additionally, it is possible that the strands of rubber or other elastic material will acquire a permanent set or a permanent elongation, which will be left in the strands after they have remained in a tensioned or stretched condition on the spools for any length of time. Similar difiiculties exist when the strands are supplied in forms other than spools.

For example, in the process of producing elastic yarn comprising an elastic core and a covering of textile thread, the elastic core is usually passed through the covering machine in a stretched condition, the degree of stretch being initially adjusted by varying therelative speeds of the feed and take-up rolls on the covering machine. Due to the unevenness in tension of the elastic material as it comes from the supply source to the covering machine, the degree of stretch imparted to the elastic filament, therefore, is varied, thus yielding a non-uniform covered elastic yarn. This non-uniformity in tension Within the yarn gives rise to serious difiiculty in weaving and'knitting operations, as the structure produced has been characterized by having portions under greater tension than other portions, which yielded a wavy fabric that would not lie flat. Thus, inequalities in the tension of the elastic strands fed to the covering machine comprise a constant source of trouble and a loss under the existing practice.

It is therefore the main object of the invention to providea method and device, of which two are shown, for feeding elastic strands to a machine in a continuously equalized condition.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism for feeding elastic strands to a machine in a relaxed condition.

A still further object of the invention is the method of pulling off the elastic strands faster than the demand of the machine so as to. always have a small accumulation and then periodically relaxing the elastic strands before they are delivered to the machine.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out. in the appended claims. r

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a perspective View of one form of a feeding machine in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the feeding machine of Figure 1 taken substantially near the center line thereof;

. Figure 3 is a partial sectional View of the feed rollers during the cycle when one of the rollers has begun to separate from the other as a result of cam action;

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2,801,735 Patented Aug. 6,. 1 957 ice and

Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of the feed rollers in closed position showing the accumulation of strands above the rollers;

Figure 7 is a partial sectionalview of a modified form offeeding machine employing two sets of feed rollers.

In proceeding with my invention, 1 provide a suitable supply of elastic strands. I then provide two feed rollers through which the strands are adapted to pass and additionally provide. guide means to pass the strands to a star Wheel ofa covering machine or other utilization means. I suitably mount one of the feed rollers of my machine on an arm which is pivoted near the center thereof and provide the far end of said arm with Weights to adjust the force of contact of the two feed rollers. I

additionally provide a cam which is adapted to periodically contact the arm, thereby pivoting one roller away from the otherand alternately engaging and disengaging the two rollers with each other. I suitably drive the two feed rollers of my machine from a power source and additionally drive anysupplementary guide rollers which may be utilized to feed the strands to a utilization means.

ReferringtoFigures- 1 to 3 in the drawings, the rubber or other elastic, strands, are disposed on a plurality of spools 10 which. are he re shown as ten in number on oppjosite sides of 'the frame in staggered relation although anynumber may he provided. Each of the spools 10 is counter-balanced by weights (not shown) or other means so as to 'counteractany unevenness in the winding of the rubber or elastic strands thereon and is providedwith a needle point center that is received in a jewel bearing 11 mounted in suitable support brackets 12. This arrangementxallows the spools 10 to rotate freely through 360 degrees The support brackets 12 are amxed to a base plate 13,at each endof which there is provided a vertical end plate 14. A feed roller 15 is journalled in the upper portion of the end plate 14 and has a shaft extension thereof passing through a bearing in the end plate and uponwhich shaft there is mounted a pinion gear 16. A chain drive 17 couples this pinion gear 16 to a main gear 18 that is mounted on a drive shaft 19. A second feed roll 20, which is normally in frictional engagement with the first feed roll 15, is journalled a at 21 in sup port arms 22, which are pivoted in the end plate 14 as at 23, the support arm 22 being provided with lever arm extensions 24. The lever arms 24 are joined together by a tie bracket. 25 towhich there is aflixed at the center thereof a lever arm extension 26. At the far end of lever arm 26 there is provided a plurality of weights 27 (Figure 2) and approximately midway of the arm 24 and its extension a cam follower 28 is athxed thereto. A cam 29 is fixedly secured to a shaft 30 that is journalled in the end plate 14 as at 31. Upon one end of the shaft 30 there is mounted a pinion gear 32 which is coupled to a separate pinion gear 33 mounted upon the drive shaft 19 by a chain drive 34.

Briefly, the drive mechanism for the machine consists of a main drive shaft 19, which is coupled to the feed roller 15, which not only drives roller 20 through frictional engagement therewith but additionally drives it through the spur gears 35, 36, which are affixed to one end of each of the rollers 15 and 20. Thus, feed roller 15 is. driven at all times, and feed roller 20 is driven only when it is in contact with the feed roller 15 or the spur gear 36 is in contact with the spur gear 35. An additional drive from. the main power shaft 19'is provided by chain 34 to the cam shaft 30 which rotates the cam 29 at a predetermined rate, the cam 29 engaging the cam follower 28, thereby lifting the lever arms 24 and 26 and rocking the feed roller 20 away from the feed roller 15 as shown by arrow 37 (Figure 3).

Mounted above the rolls 15 and 20 are two parallel sets of guiding feed rolls 40. Each set of guide rolls 40 loosely rests upon a pair of parallel shafts 41, 41' and is guided in a single path for rotary movement by shaft collars 42. The shafts 41 are supported at each end thereof in bearings 43 which are secured to a supporting arm 44 (Figure 2) that is attached to the rubber strand covering machine. Each of the shafts 41, 41' is driven at the same constant speed by means of a pinion gear and chain drive arrangement that is coupled to the main drive of the covering machine. This drive mechanism consists of a pinion gear 45 affixed to the end of each shaft, each pair of parallel shafts being coupled together by a chain 46 that passes over the pinion gears 45. Each pair of shafts is then coupled together by means of spur gears 47, the power drive arriving via chain 48 which engages a pinion gear 49 that is attached to one of the shafts 41. The gear ratios utilized in this feeding mechanism just described are such as to supply a peripheral speed to the rolls 40 that is close to the peripheral speed of the feed rolls of the covering machine or the peripheral speed of the star wheels such as shown at 50 (Figure 2) of the covering machine or other utilization means. This is desirable, since it is not intended to supply any appreciable tension to the elastic strands but merely to deliver the elastic strands to the star wheel or feed rollers, as the case might be, of the covering machine in a relaxed condition with only enough tension which is equal in all strands for proper control. In practice, however, it may therefore be found deirable to adjust the speed of these feed rolls 40 so that they will rotate at a peripheral speed that is less than the peripheral speed of the star wheels or main feed rolls of the covering machine or other utilization means. However, this variation that might be imparted to the feed rolls 40 should not be appreciable so that the ten sioning which is to be applied by the covering machine to the elastic strands will primarily be applied in the covering machine itself rather than in any of the mechanism, which is the subject of my invention, that is used to feed the elastic strands to the covering machine.

In describing the operation of my feeding mechanism as shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, it may be well first to consider the path of a single strand of elastic filament 60 as it passes through the mechanism. Referring to Figure 2, the elastic strand 60, which is wound upon the reels 10, passes from the spools 10 through guide loops 61 provided by guide wires 62 and thence between rollers '15 and 20. The strand is then guided over the shafts 41 and 41, respectively, and thence underneath the guide rollers 40 to the feed rollers or star wheels 50. To prevent the strand from adhering to the rollers 20 and 15, scrapers 63 are mounted so as to have one edge thereof in contact with the rolls 20 and 15. These scrapers 63 are preferably made from some thin sheet metal and are fastened between two metallic blocks 64 and 65 as by bolts 66 (Figure 1) to the supporting arms, respectively, of the feed rollers 15 and 20 so that a low-resistance electrical path is formed between the scrapers 63 and the rollers 15 and 20. These scrapers are also used to keep the rollers clean from talc which is used to aid the difficulty of sticking strands, and since they are connected electrically to the frame of the machine, static electricity generation is reduced. Mounted on top of the scraper supporting blocks 64 and 65 of the supporting arm 22 for the roller 20 are guide wires 67 (Figure 1) that are provided with loops such as at 68. The loops 68 in these guide wires serve to keep the respective elastic strands 60 separated from each other and additionally serve to guide the elastic strand to its respective feed rollers 40. At each end of the machine an additional guide wire 70 has been provided so that the strand coming from the end spool will not entangle with the pivoting mechanism of the arms 22, 24.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5 in the drawings, I have shown another embodiment of my invention which is adapted to feed elastic strands in a relaxed condition. Similar or related parts bear reference numerals with tens digits identical to the previously described embodiment. The elastic strands may be supplied on spools or in various other packages and may be suitably mounted adjacent the machine. The individual elastic strands are then fed to the machine between two feed rollers and 120. Feed roller 115 is journaled in two vertical end plates 114 which are mounted at either end of a base plate 113 and has a shaft extension upon which there is mounted a pinion gear 116. A chain drive 117 couples this pinion gear to another gear 118 which is mounted at the end of the shaft 119 of a top roller, the purpose of which will presently be described. The second feed roller 120, which is normally in frictional engagement with the first feed roller 115, is journaled in a bearing 121 attached to a rocking arm 122 which is pivoted in the end plates 114 by means of a pivot rod 123 that is received in bearings 123'. The pivot arms 122 are provided with lever arm extensions 124 fastened thereto by bolts 124. Approximately midway on the lever arm 124 there is affixed a cam follower 128 and a spring 127 is attached to the 'far end of the lever arm 124 to provide the necessary engagement of the cam follower 128 with the cam 129 and also to provide the necessary frictional engagement of the feed rollers and 115. A cam 129 is secured to a shaft 130 which is journaled in the end plates 114 by bearings 131. A pinion gear 132 (Figure 5) is mounted upon the shaft 130 and is driven by means of a chain, not shown, which is coupled to the shaft 119 through a suitable pinion gear.

Briefly, the drive mechanism for the machine consists of a suitable source of power such as shaft 180 which is coupled to the shaft 119 by means of a chain drive 119' to a pinion gear 118 which is aifixed thereto. Shaft 119 mounts a top roller 141- which provides a constant speed of take-off and drives roller 115 which is coupled thereto through the spur gears 116, 118, and the chain 117. Feed roller 120 is not only driven by means of the frictional engagement with feed roller 115 but is additionally positively driven at all times. The spur gear mounted on shaft 123 engages the spur gear 136, that is aflixed to roller 120, and is driven through a chain drive 170 that couples pinion gears 171 and 172, pinion gear 171 being mounted upon the shaft of feed roller 115. Thus, feed roller 115 is driven at all times, and feed roller 120 keeps pace therewith by its drive through the linkage just described. The drive for the cam shaft 130 is at the far end of the machine as shown in Figure 4 and is not visible but comprises the spur gear 132 that is aflixed to the shaft 130 (Figure 5), the spur gear 132 being coupled to the shaft 119 through a chain drive 133 that engages a pinion gear 134 affixed to the shaft of roller 115. This drive rotates the cam shaft 130 at a predetermined rate, which rotates the cam 129 so as to engage the cam follower 128, thereby lifting the lever arm 124 and rocking the feed roller 120 away from the feed roller 115 as shown by the arrow 137 (Figure 5).

Mounted above the rolls 115 and 120 are guiding feed rolls 140, 141 which are provided to secure a constant speed of take-off for control of the elastic strands to the utilization machine. Guide roller 141 is mounted in bearings 143 which are suitably aflixed to the end plates 114. The second guide roll is preferably made of some resilient material such as rubber or any one of the known synthetic materials that exhibit similar properties to rubber and is mounted between a pair of bearings 144 which are secured to a pair of pivoting brackets 147. These pivoting brackets 147 are pivoted as at 148 to fixed bracket extensions 149 of the end plates 114 and have secured at the opposite ends thereof slotted extension arms 150, which are provided with slots 151. A suitable U-shaped standard 152 is provided on each of the end plates 114, each of the standards mounting a bolt 153 that is pivoted therein as at 154. Each bolt is adapted to pass within one of the slots 151 of the extensions 150 and has aflixed thereto a spring 155, washer 157, and a take-up nut 156. Thus, upon exerting a certain pressure on the take-up nut 156, the pressure of contact of the roll 140 with the roll 141 may be varied as desired. Additionally, this arrangement allows the roll 140 to be easily raised by sliding the bolts 153 out of engagement with slot 151 and permits threading of the machine.

The operation of this feeding mechanism is practically identical with the previous embodiment described above. However, it may be well to consider the path of a single strand of elastic material 160 as it passes through the mechanism. Referring to Figure 5, the elastic strand 160 passes from its supply source through suitable guiding means, not shown, to rollers 115 and 120. The strand may then be guided through a helical coil guiding means 167 to the top rolls 140, 141 and thence through second guide means consisting of helical coils 168 and eyelets 169 to suitable utilization means. Alternately, the guiding means 169 may be eliminated. To prevent the strands from adhering to the rollers 115 and 120, scrapers 163 are mounted so as to have one edge thereof in contact with the rollers 115 and 120. These scrapers 163 are preferably made from some thin sheet material and are fastened between two metallic blocks 164 and 165 as by bolts 166 (Figure to the roller support arms so as to provide a low resistance path to the rollers 115, 120.

To understand the operation of the machines just described, they will be described using the tens digits reference numerals common to both. Assuming for the moment that the rollers 15 and 20 are in contact, as shown in Figures 2 and 6, it will be seen that the yarn 60 will be pulled from the supply source at a rate determined by the speed of the feed rollers 15 and 20. In practice the speed of these rollers has been adjusted so that it is faster than the peripheral speed of the guide feed rollers 41, 41 so that there will be an accumulation of elastic strands 60 as at 60 above the point of contact of the feed rollers 15 and 20. This accumulation is prevented from adhering to the rollers 15 and 20 by the scrapers 63 and is periodically allowed to drop by the separation of the rollers 15 and 20, as shown in Figure 5 by the solid line 160", which is effected by the operation of the cam 29. The cam 29 engages the follower 28 affixed to the lever arm 24 that pivots the support arm 22 carrying the feed roller 20 away from the roller 15. This separation allows the accumulation of elastic strands to drop in a relaxed state momentarily, and when the cam 29 has reached its highest point, as shown in Figure 5, the roller 20 will return to contact with the roller 15 and continue to draw the elastic strands from the supply source. The guide rollers 40 and 41 have been continuously rotating throughout the above described process and have provided a constant speed of take-off to the utilization means, which, as described in connection with Figures 1 to 3, was a star wheel of a covering machine. However, many uses may be made of the relaxing machines. For instance, they may be employed in a warping operation to supply relaxed yarn to the warp beams or for the winding cops of filling. It will thus be seen that the strands 60 are periodically relaxed at one point during their travel, which relaxation occurs along successive sections of the elastic strands and tends to equalize any tension that may have been put into any of the individual strands during their initial formation or any subsequent process ing or reeling that may have occurred.

Should for any reason, such as extreme non-uniformity of elastic strands, it be desired to impart more relaxation to the elastic strands, an arrangement as diagramed in Figure 7 may be used. In accordance with this showing two machines as described above are placed in series and basically comprise two pairs of feed rollers, 215, 220, 315, 320 mounted one above the other. Feed rollers 220, 320 are mounted respectively on pivoting arms 224, 324 which are adapted to be engaged by cams 229, 329, respectively. These cams are rotated out of phase with each other by shafts 230, 330 that may turn at the same speed which results, as shown in Figure 7, in one pair of rollers being in contact while the other pair are separated. Thus, relaxation of the elastic strand 260 is effected twice before it is fed to the utilization means. Obviously any number of pairs of rollers may be provided and the phasing of their closed and open positions may be varied to suit.

I claim:

1. An elastic filament feeding device comprising a pair of feed rollers and a pair of receiving rollers, said feed rolls rotating at a faster peripheral speed than said receiving rolls, means normally maintaining said feed rollers in face to face engagement, driving means engaging one of said rollers of each pair, filament passing in a vertical attitude between said rollers, and means to periodically disengage said feed rollers dropping the accumulated filament.

2. A filament feeding device as in claim 1 wherein one of said feed rollers is mounted upon a pivoted arm, said disengaging means contacting said arm.

3. A filament feeding device as in claim 1 wherein one of said feed rollers is mounted upon a pivoted arm and cam means periodically engages said arm.

4. A filament feeding device as in claim 1 wherein one of said feed rollers is mounted upon a pivoted arm and cam means periodically engages said arm, said arm having a force applied at the far end thereof to urge said feed rollers into face engagement.

5. An elastic filament feeding apparatus having means for intermittently drawing filaments in a vertical attitude from a supply source and means equalizing the tension in said filaments by allowing them to periodically drop and relax without over-accumulation.

6. In a thread covering apparatus, means to pull thread in a vertical attitude from a supply package faster than the demand of a utilization means, and means to interrupt said pulling means at predetermined intervals and drop the thread in a relaxed condition.

7. Apparatus for feeding elastic filaments to a utilization machine comprising a pair of feed rollers rotating at a faster peripheral speed than the demand of said machine, and means periodically separating the feed rollers to drop the accumulated strands between said rollers in a relaxed condition.

8. An elastic filament feeding device comprising at least a pair of rollers, means normally maintaining said rollers in face to face engagement, driving means engaging one of said rollers of each pair, filament passing in a vertical attitude between each pair of said rollers, and means to periodically separate each pair of said rollers.

9. A filament feeding device as in claim 8 wherein multiple pairs of rollers are provided, each successive pair being mounted generally above a first pair, said filament passing in a vertical attitude successively between each pair to a utilization means, the peripheral speed of successive pairs of rollers increasing.

10. A filament feeding device as in claim 9 wherein the means to periodically separate each pair of rollers includes timing means to engage one pair and disengage a successive pair of rollers and alternate the cycle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

